COPENHAGEN, 18 December 2018 – Migrants can benefit host countries by contributing to economic growth and promoting understanding between societies, said OSCE parliamentarian Nahima Lanjri (MP, Belgium) today, marking International Migrants Day. But in order to promote the benefits of migration and ensure that it is a source of prosperity and sustainable development, it is necessary to improve migration governance, she said.

Lanjri, who chairs the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration, noted that no single country can address the migration issue alone, and in this respect, welcomed the adoption last week of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

Kyriakos Hadjiyianni and Margareta Kiener Nellen at the SMM headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine, 17 December 2018KYIV, 17 December 2018 – Leaders from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights and humanitarian committee today called for all sides of the conflict in eastern Ukraine to lay down their weapons as a critical step in finding a lasting solution to the crisis in and around Ukraine.

Committee Chair Margareta Kiener Nellen (MP, Switzerland) and Committee Rapporteur Kyriakos Hadjiyianni (MP, Cyprus) met today in Kyiv with Iryna Gerashchenko, the Ukrainian President’s Humanitarian Envoy at the Minsk peace talks, Artur Gerasymov, Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the OSCE PA, and Ertugrul Apakan, Chief Monitor with the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine, and other officials and experts.

Following the meetings in Kyiv the OSCE parliamentarians will be travelling to several cities in the east of Ukraine.

Nahima Lanjri and Peter Osusky observe the vote at a polling station in Yerevan, 9 Dec. 2018.YEREVAN, 10 December 2018 – The 9 December early parliamentary elections in Armenia were held with respect for fundamental freedoms and enjoyed broad public trust that needs to be preserved through further electoral reforms, the international observers concluded in a preliminary statement released today. Open political debate, including in the media, contributed to a vibrant campaign, although cases of inflammatory rhetoric online were of concern, the statement says.

The general absence of electoral malfeasance, including of vote buying and pressure on voters, allowed for genuine competition, the observers said. Despite the shortened timeframe, the elections were well administered, although the integrity of campaign finance was undermined by a lack of regulation, accountability and transparency.

COPENHAGEN, 9 December 2018 - Parliamentarians from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly have expressed their sorrow over the death of Lyudmila Alekseyeva of Russia, who died today at the age of 91. President George Tsereteli (Georgia) and human rights committee Chair Margareta Kiener Nellen (Switzerland) and Vice-Chair Michael Link (Germany) praised Alekseyeva as an inspirational figure for human rights advocates world-wide.

“Alekseyeva spent her life fighting for principled and respectful treatment for all people and I hope her legacy will serve as a reminder to all that we need to continue this work,” said President Tsereteli. “Her continuous struggle for justice and against repression, first in the Soviet Union and more recently in Russia, should inspire us all.”

Alekseyeva co-founded the Moscow Helsinki Group human rights organization in 1976, which Tsereteli noted was closely linked to the OSCE process.